Method of making deep well screens



S E 0 7 1 in n m t E m M 6 @m H e an r m m 571 mm s m H W/ H A 3 B H O WILLIAMS ETAL METHOD OF MAKING DEEP WELL SCREENS Original Filed Aug. 1, 1938 Aug. 24, 1943.

1943- H. o. WILLIAMS ET AL METHOD OF MAKING DEEP WELL SCREENS Original Filed Aug. 1, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 5s m m wms tu n e .6 Q 9 2 J n 2 I v F 7 ad noA o F Fr 1 2% wwy Aug. 24, 1943. H. o. WILLIAMS ET AL METHOD OF MAKING DEEP WELL SCREENS Original Filed Aug. 1, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Invenfors Howard QWL'LU qms er-i' A.J' as Patented Aug. 24, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MAKING DEEP WELL SCREENS Howard 0. Williams, Minneapolis, and Albert A. Jens, St. Paul, Minn., assignors to Edward E. Johnson, Incorporated, St. Paul, Minn.

Original application August 1, 1938, Serial No. 222,410. Divided and this application April 15, 1940, Serial No. 329,748

1 Claim.

. upon the longitudinal elements supported by the pipe base and shrunk to compress the longitudinal elements upon the pipe base.

It is a principal object of our invention to mount a prefabricated pipe base so that the same may be simultaneously rotated and advanced longitudinally, to hold applied thereto a series of supporting elements contacting the surface of the pipe base and held in spaced parallel relation and to weld to said longitudinal elements a wire laid helically upon the elements and heated by electrical welding means so as to cause the wire to sink into and be welded to each longitudinal ele ment at each crossing point thereof, the contraction of the progressively heated wires causing the elements to be bound tight against the surface of the pipe base so as to become substantially in tegral therewith.

It is a further object of our invention to produce a well screen having a perforated pipe base as a support, a series of longitudinal metallic elements contacting said pipe base and a covering of Wire wound helically upon said elements and welded thereto at every crossing point thereof in such manner that the expansion of the wire produced by the heat of the welding action shall,

upon cooling, draw the longitudinal elements upon and into the outer wall of the pipe so as to make them substantially integral therewith.

This application is a division of our application, Serial No. 222,410, filed August 1, 1938.

The full objects and advantages of our invention will appear in connection with the detailed description hereinafter given and the novel features of the invention by which the advantageous results, referred to above, are secured ar partlcularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings illustrating an. application of our invention in one form:

Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation view of apparatus for forwarding together a perforated pipe base and a series of longitudinal rods held thereon, together with means for feeding and Welding a helical wire on said rods of a type disclosed in Johnson Patent No. 2,046,461.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail view of what would appear on the section of line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view across the pipe base in substantially the plane of the welding disc showing the manner of leading in the wrapping in over the shaped rods held on the pipe base.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation view with some parts broken away of a well screen formed in the manner illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 4.

' Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 66 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a partial sectional View taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view showing shape and characteristics of one of the longitudinal rods adapted to be positioned upon an inner perforated pipe base.

Fig. 9 is a part sectional view similar to Fig. 1.

Upon a frame base It, shown only in fragment, are mounted supporting rings H and I2 lined with hearing strips 13 which support an extended tubular member l5 held to rotate therein. The outer end l6 of the tube (5 is open as indicated in Fig. 1. The inner end I! engages inside of an annular flange l8 on a head plate [9 which is formed with a central circular opening 20. The head plate I9 is secured by a multiplicity of bolts 2| to a contact ring 22 thus held to rotate with the tube l5 and engaged by an electrical contact shoe 23. Electric current is supplied to the shoe 23 and from it to head l9 through laminated conductors 24 all in the manner fully disclosed in Johnson Patent No. 2,046,461.

To the head I9 is secured by means of bolts 25 an annular flange 25 of a tubular guide member 21, which is shown in enlarged detail in Fig. 2. The guide member 2! is provided with a multiplicity of grooves 23 adapted to receive a corresponding number of longitudinal supporting members 29 and to guide them in fixed parallel relation for the wrapping and welding operation hereinafter described. Means for effecting this operation are as follows: Upon a traveling standard 30, Fig. 1, is rotatively journalled at 3| a threaded lead screw 32 connected with means for forwarding the standard 30 and parts supported thereby, not shown herein, but similar to those described in detail in Johnson Patent No. 2,046,460.

The lead screw 32 extends through an elongated hub 33 carrying a gear 34. .An extension 35 of lead screw is secured by means of nut 36 t0 a bearing box 3! mounted in the end of hub 33 so that said hub and the spur gear 34 may be rotated relative to lead screw 32, the hub M being journalled on a bearing sleeve 38 surrounding a reduced portion of lead screw 32.

The standard 3% is journalled on a follower bearing 38 upon and splined to a driven shaft it. The member 39 carries a pinion M secured thereto by set screws 42 and which meshes with spur changed for other interchangeable couplers.hav-.

ing internally threaded extensions of greater or less diameter to receive pipe members 59 of cor- 1 respondingly greater or less diameter.

A supporting, bar 5.! which may be a pipe section of suitable diameter, is rigidly secured at its end to'a'frame member And said bar has secured thereto by set screws 53 a suitable number of cylindrical expanders 56 adapted to fit within the interior of the pipe base 50, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. The supporting bar or pipe 5! is centrally positioned within the tubular member or drum is and is adapted to be rotated with the pipe base 5i! and the longitudinal supporting memhers 28 by means of a spur gear .55 fast on said drum which meshes with a pinion 55, fast on a shaft 5? which is coupled at 58 to the shaft 46. The spur gears 34 and 55 are of the same diameter and the pinions M and 56 are of the same diameter, hence the rate of revolution of drum Iii The welding operation is effected by-Ineans of a welding disc 59, Fig. 1, on a carrier 8!! closing a circuit through longitudinal supporting members 29 to the shoe 23 and conductors 24 in a well known way as shown in detail in the aforesaid Johnson Patent No. 2,046,460, and which details, forming no part of this invention, are not shown.

In practice, the longitudinal supporting members 29 have the cross sectional shape shownin Fig. 8, wherein is a wider base '66 and side walls 61' and 62' converging with sharper converging walls atthe top going to substantially an edge 63. The wire 64 which is helically wound'upon these supporting members to form the screening surface, as shown in Fig. 6, has substantially the same cross sectional shape as the longitudinal supporting members 2.9 and as clearly shown in Figs. 6 and '7, these respective members are presented to each other with their smallest or edge element in contact. In practice, the wire 64 passes through a guide 65, Fig. 3, which holds it in proper position. It is initially welded, as at 5'6, to one of the longitudinal supporting members 29. The machine is then started resulting in simultaneous rotation'of th pipe base ,5!) and the supporting" elements 29 held in parallel relation thereon by the guide slots 23in the guide member 21, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The simultaneous rotation and advancing of the pipe base 50 and the longitudinal members 29 held thereon causes thefwrapp'ing wire 64 under the weldin disc 59 and guided by the guide wall 67 thereon to b laid in a continuing helix uponthe'supporting members 2%. Electrical current can pass rowededges' or the wrapping 'wire'fi i" and the supporting members 29. This current simultaneously heats the wire 64 and the supporting member 29 at their contacting points so that the wire and support are caused to fuse at such points and be sunk one within the other a predetermined distance, as indicated at 53 in Fig. '7. This fusing makes these parts in effect integral, as clearly indicated at 69 of Fig. 6. It will be noted that the flat base 61! of the supporting elements 29 rests firmly upon the outer surface of pipe base 58. The wire 66 is progressively heated as p it passes under the welding disc 59 and the expansion thereof is continually forwarded to the incoming wire, see Fig. 3. The expanded portions of the Wire 6 are successively anchored to the supporting members 28. It follows that when the wire 64 cools after the welding operation, its contraction necessarily diminishes the circumferential extent of th helical coils, with the result that this contraction forces the supporting bars :29 so powerfully upon the surface of pipe: base, 50 :as to bind thesebars immovably'upon the pipe only are the supporting rods'progressively bound.

upon and substantially integrated with the pipe base 50, but their longitudinalposition upon the pipe base is constantly maintained.

This position is well shcwn'in Figs. 5 and 6 wherein valleys or drainage channels, indicated at iii, are formed between adjacent pairs of supporting members 29' and from these valleys the perforations or openings ii extend through to the interior of the pipe Although the drainage holes T1 are staggered on the pipe base, it will'be apparent from'Fig. i thatthe longi'- tudinal rows thereof come successivelyinto channel it formed between adjacentp'airs of'supporting members '29. The resulting screen is therefore, "in'effect, anintegral construction with the pipe base giving it strength and rigidityjand the cell-like structure of the helically wound and welded wrapping wire and longitudinal supports providing ascreening surface with screening capacity, the slots between successive coils of the helix, in efiect one continuous helical slot, diverging inwardly into the channel It, as clearly indicated at 12 in Fig. 6.

The screen is finished very simply, as clearly shown in Fig. l. The ends 13 and id of the pipe base 5d are threaded, as indicated at it and it. A protector washer Ti is slipped over the pipe base and has a forwardly extending flange 7,3

overlying a small section of the wrapping of hellcally wound wire 6 as clearly shown in Figs. 4 and 6. l'he washer member '57 will be Welded at T5 to the pipe base 59 or the end 33 thereof, as shown in Fig. 6.

The advantages of my invention will be appar ent from the foregoing description. The resulting screen combines the features of advantage of a high efficiency drainage screen formed by integrating through welding helically wound wire upon a series of longitudinal supports with narrowed portions of both wire and supports meeting and sunk and welded together at their crossing points, thus leaving substantially one hundred per cent drainage area to the drainage slots,'with the strong support and rigidity of a prefabricated perforated pipe base. Substantially the full advantage of the wire-wrapped screen is retained and at the same time the strength and ability to resist severe stresses of the pipe base is added thereto, the entire structure becoming in effect a cellular integrated structure of very great strength in proportion to its weight.

We claim:

A method of making well screens which consists of providing a perforated pipe base of desired length, supporting said pipe base throughout its length by means permitting it to be rotated and advanced, said means Comprising a plurality of members engaging the pipe base in such manner as to hold it in rigid fixed alinement in respect to the instrumentalities operating thereon as it is rotated and advanced, providing a plurality of rod members and holding them so that in a circumferential area along a plane transverse to their length they are caused to contact the outer surface of the pipe base in equally spaced relation, continually holding advancing parts of said rod members in such relation as the pipe base is continuously rotated and advanced, rotating together the pipe base and said holding members and the rod members on the pipe base and simultaneously advancing the pipe base and rod members longitudinally thereof so that successive portions of th rod members will be successively held in said circumferential area in contact with the pipe base and equally spaced one from the other, holding a wire to engage the outer limits of said rod members successively in said circumferential area so that as the pipe base and rod members are rotated and advanced the wire will be laid helically upon the outer limits of said rod members in said circumferential area, and progressively applying welding heat to said Wire and to each successive crossing point of said rod members, said welding heat operating to weld the wire and rod members together at each crossing point, and by continual rotation and advancement of the pipe base and of the helical coils of wire thereon causing said helical coils after said welding has taken place to progressively cool and thereby to contract and bind the rod members firmly upon the unperforated portions of the pipe base.

HOWARD O. WILLIAMS. ALBERT A. JENS. 

